2012.02.05 -- Ohlone Wilderness

Apologies for the major delay in getting this posted. I had the pictures all sorted in May, but ended up not going the rest of the way, which involves a lot of editing of html.

This was a great trip! Looking back through the pictures I realized how much we enjoyed the beautiful views of the Ohlone Wilderness. This is Robert and my second and Erick's first trip from Lake Del Valle near Livermore to the Sunol park headquarters 25 miles east. The trip consists of a challening but short first day of less than 3 miles, an epic second day in 9 miles of very rugged terrain, and a long but beautiful downward hike out on the last day of around 11 miles.

Day 1: hiking to Boyd's Camp

We left the car at the Lichen Bark day use area and started the slog up the quite steep first part of the trail. It really starts out with a bang.

The "campground" on the map is not Boyd's camp but the Lake Del Valle family camp ground.



A small example of one of the hills on the way to Boyd's Camp



Robert and Erick setting up the Kelty Gunnison 3.1 at Boyd' Camp.



As usual we went for an after hike recreational hike up in the hills above Boyd's Camp.

Day 2 -- Williams Gulch, the Big Burn, and Maggies Half Acre on Rose Peak

Priority 1 -- exercise the titanium french press



Our new favorite breakfast for big days: onion or garlic bagels fried in oil



Views from the right (high) part of Williams Gulch.



Heading towards the wrong (low) part of Williams Gulch. Watching all that elevation disappear is really a sinking feeling ...



Gulch-tastic ...



The low point of Williams Gulch



You know what comes next right? The Big Burn ...



Short detour off the Burn to do some geochaching.



Entering our names in the log. We didnt find anything we wanted to trade for.



The climb gets much easier and you start to get a breeze from the ridge.



Almost up to Schlieper Rock.





We hit another geocache.





Lunch time up on the ridge



Erick with the great views in the background. Nice spot for lunch as most of the hard climbing is done ... or that is what I told the kids ...



This picture makes it look pretty high up there!



Cant have all those ups without some downs ... you can almost hear the whining coming from the next picture ...



This bit is tough. This is 4 hours into the day and we are mayube 2/3 of the way to Maggies ...



Finally at the fork to Maggies Half Acre just below the summit of Mt Rose.



A kid happy to take them boots off!

Day 3 -- a long beautiful hike out

Prioties! Titanium cup of coffee prepared with titanium french press. Them frenchies do know how to do a couple things right!



Breakfast at Maggies Half Acre



Loaded up for the last day. My pack was considerably lighter with the food mostly eaten.



We took the optional pre hike recreational hike up to the summit of Mt Rose.



Erick with lots of energy. So much energy that I convinced him to go back for the camera that I left in my pack ...



Panorama magic on the top of Mt Rose.



Back on the trail and headed for Sunol.



Weird things hanging in trees. Not sure what these are, but maybe some botanist can help me out.



This bit of trail slopes in the right direction, but you can almost hear the whining coming from a few pictures down ...



My dad would blow this up and convince you it is a red tailed hawk or a condor or a yellow bellied sap-sucker.



One more geocache, the last one on the trip.



Here is where the whining came from. Yes we have to go all the way down and then right back up. No other way to go.



On the way down ...



On the way back up ...



Still going back up ...



The reward! Back to ridge, the beautiful views, and the awesome breeze!



A couple of scenic panoramas of the hike to Sunol





More scenic hiking.



Yet more scenic hiking. You can appreciate the lovely singletrack trail winding along into the distance.



A few more panoramas ...









Almost to the Sunol backpack camp, and that is a good thing because we were quite low on water. "Quite low" is actually code for totally out and thirsty as hell.



The Sunol backpack camp.



This is like a false flat on a bike ride: almost done but you still have 2.3 miles to go.



We made a poor decision and opted for the road instead of staying on the trail, but it seemed like a good decision at the time. That gravel road was endless drudgery.



Flip flops never felt better!



You would not believe what Erick carried in his pack.



After the sag wagon came to pick us up we retrieved the car and went to weigh the rocks Erick carried. I make it 6 or 7 pounds.

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